Reengage – Social Groups – Cottingham

You’ll be warmly welcomed by your event host, who will probably be a different person each month, and invited in for conversation and a cuppa with the rest of the group.

Our hosts will provide some light refreshments for you all to enjoy. Our events last for a couple of hours and at the end, you’ll be driven home by your volunteer driver.

We exist to bring older people together into social groups at a time in their lives when their social circles are diminishing.

This year, 8,500 older guests were part of over 900 groups across the UK, supported by 14,000 volunteers.

In response to the COVID-19 crisis we have suspended our regular social gatherings and have created a new service for older people called call companions. 

The guests in our existing groups are receiving calls from volunteers and we now have volunteer capacity to reach more older people and want call companions to be a permanent addition to our work. 

Our call companion’s idea is very simple: a volunteer call companion calls the same older person between two and four times a month at a mutually agreed time for an informal chat. Calls will last for around 30 minutes.

Just like our social gatherings, the call companions programme is aimed at people who are

• 75 or older 
• Living alone or in sheltered housing with little or no contact with family or friends 
• Struggle to leave their house in normal times